I was at the grocery store (supermarket) yesterday and had to shake my head at all the clever misleading food labels that are everywhere. In every aisle I saw tons of products claiming all sorts of things that were supposed to be “healthy” but actually weren’t. This is food marketing deception at its worst.
One of the things that struck me and really worried me was seeing several examples of healthy foods in their natural state, while also noticing fake, overly processed versions of those original foods that claimed they were healthier than them natural version.
In reality, however, all of those fake versions were MUCH worse for you than the original… and they still have the guts to claim that their overly processed “junkified” versions are better.
The sad thing is that millions of people fall for this deceptive food marketing every day. Here are a few examples that caught my eye:
Example 1: Product claiming to be “Better than Peanut Butter”.
This product is ridiculous! I can’t believe anyone would ever believe that processed junk is better for them than natural, minimally processed peanut butter.
First of all, when you buy a good natural organic peanut butter, it’s usually quite simply made with just two ingredients… peanuts and salt. And they don’t add a lot of salt, so it’s not a high-sodium product.
However, this fake peanut butter that claimed it was “better than peanut butter” (trying to appear healthier than natural peanut butter based on what the label claims) contained a list of processed junk you wouldn’t believe. First, they remove all of the natural healthy fats from the peanuts, making it a “low-fat” product. Okay, so now you’ve just taken away one of the healthiest parts of peanut butter…the appetite-busting healthy fats you need to control cravings and achieve more stable blood sugar levels in your body.
To make matters worse, the healthy fats have been replaced with 2 different types of sugar-based syrups, plus additional dehydrated cane juice (aka SUGAR), on top of added refined starches (in case you weren’t getting enough spikes in blood sugar). nor refined carbohydrates).
This product took something as simple and natural as peanut butter and turned it into a kind of processed junk candy. However, they claim that it is healthier for you than peanut butter. And somehow they get away with fooling the masses on their label like that. Don’t be her fool!
Example 2: Product claiming to be “better than eggs”.
I won’t go into too much detail on this one because I covered this whole subject in depth in another issue of the ezine recently.
Basically, this product is just egg whites with a bunch of added chemical colors, flavors and other nonsense including artificially added vitamins.
Again, this product essentially ruined a good thing by removing the healthiest part…the egg yolk! And yes, the yolk is the healthiest part of the egg. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t understand much about proper nutrition. The most important things to look for in high-quality whole eggs are cage-free and organic.
What most people don’t realize is that almost all of an egg’s high-quality nutrients are found in the yolk. Most of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and micronutrients are found in the yolk, not the egg white. Even the protein in whites is not as high quality in terms of bioavailability without the amino acid profile of the egg yolk to complement the amino acid profile of the whites.
And no, the cholesterol in eggs isn’t bad for you…it actually raises your good cholesterol more than bad cholesterol, improving your overall profile. And the fats in whole eggs are also balanced and healthy for you.
Conclusion: Whole eggs are healthier than egg whites. It’s not even a close comparison. The claims on the label are just another example of food marketing deception.
Example 3: A product claiming to be “better than butter”.
This was essentially crappy margarine loaded with highly processed and deadly trans fats, but it had the nerve to claim it was “better than butter.”
Don’t fall for it!
Even low quality butter is better for you than any margarine on the market. One problem with butter is the pesticides and hormones commonly found in improperly raised cows.
For this reason, using organic butter is always a good choice, and if you can find grass-fed butter then I would even say it may be healthy for you. Grass-fed butter is higher in the natural form of beneficial conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). In fact, adding some butter to your steamed veggies will help your body absorb more of the vitamins and minerals in the veggies.
Because of the stable saturated fat content in butter, butter is one of the best oils for cooking. Oils high in polyunsaturated fats such as soy, corn, safflower (and even flax) are the worst for cooking because their chemistry is very unstable. I have a comprehensive article on which oils are healthiest for cooking and which aren’t based on their chemistry.
Another point…the saturated fat in butter is NOT bad for you. We’ve hit a dead horse on this topic in previous articles, but again, you can find more in-depth articles on this topic on my website.
Visit my site below for dozens of other articles on all of these controversial health and fitness topics. To your health!
Thanks to Mike Geary
